


Less like my father, more like my dad

by risinggreatness



Series: Circle 'round the sun [111]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 07:41:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3479948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/risinggreatness/pseuds/risinggreatness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke struggles with the image of his father in his head and the truth</p>
            </blockquote>





	Less like my father, more like my dad

It’s a long way to Mos Eisley. Luke fights the urge to let his eyes flit over to Ben in the seat next to him ( _he keeps them on the horizon_ ).

He wants to ask Ben a thousand questions about his father. They burn in his chest, but he doesn’t dare them.

The lightsaber is an unfamiliar weight on his belt, though not unwelcome.

His father _wanted_ him to have it. The very thought of the gift opens Luke’s mind to all of the possibilities: the life he could have lived. His father _wanted_ him to have the lightsaber, _wanted_ him to have a life of freedom and adventure. He _must_ have wanted Luke to grow up anywhere but here.

And who could blame him for that, after the life his father was forced to live here?

If that’s what his father wanted for him, how in hell did he end up on this rock? Why was the life his father wanted for him disregarded in favor of moisture farming?

Luke’s efforts not to look at Ben are not returned. The old man makes no such attempt, examining every inch of him.

A mixture of grief and guilt churns in Luke’s stomach as the true answer to an older question clicks into place: why did his parents’ mysterious friend deliver him to Tatooine and doom him to the life his father left?

It was Ben.

It was Ben all along who brought him to the farm and looked after him from afar. He never left and he never abandoned Luke.

Reluctantly, Luke adds Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru’s answer to the growing list of lies he was told.

\----------

He supposes he’s not surprised. Han’s had a price on his head since Luke met him; it only makes sense the bounty hunter would deliver him to the Hutts.

Another of his family ( _Han would laugh at the sentiment_ ) lives ( _they hope he is still in stasis_ ) at their mercy.

It’s been a long time since he thought about his grandmother.

But there is not time to think of her more now; Luke plots a course for Dagobah.

\----------

Something’s not right. Luke paces.

If the mission had gone accordingly, they would have been back by now: Leia with Han first, Lando with Chewie and the droids second. Regardless, Luke can feel it.

It’s a bad feeling down to his bones.

_Time for the backup plan._

Never more than a speck on the horizon from the homestead, a looming threat and reminder over all the system, the Hutt’s palace physically looms over Luke now.

Dawn’s dust floats in behind him on the suns’ beams, the same which used to follow him around on morning maintenance checks.

Inside the palace, the gangster and his entourage sleep off the night’s events while slaves move silently around them. Luke’s arrival breaks the unnatural still. The gamorrean guards scurry back to their crevices without much resistance. He pities Bib Fortuna, not strong-willed enough to resist the wave of a hand.

Courage gathered and sickness staved ( _he cannot risk everything on a childhood affliction_ ), Luke stands before Jabba, but the gangster does not hold his immediate attention.

As Fortuna rouses his master, Luke locks eyes with Leia. She suffers silently pressed against the slug; he fears her tongue was cut in order to make her so.

He expects a new wave of nausea, for his face to go deathly pale from the sight of her chained and scantily clad. Only he quakes, but not with sickness as he negotiates with ( _near threatens_ ) Jabba. Not that anyone could tell; Luke maintains his serene.

He doesn’t see Han or his frozen prison anywhere. ( _Where’s Chewie? Were they able to free Han? What have they done to him?_ )

Jabba laughs at his ultimatums and pulls on the chain around Leia’s neck; she practically sinks into the flesh.

3PO’s warning comes too late.

Desperate, Luke summons the first blaster he sees. His aim only as true as to not shoot Leia, one of the guards tackles him and the floor is dropped from beneath them.

He cannot think about the riotous crowd above or the squealing gamorrean until the rancor’s jaw clenches around its stomach. Survival instincts, honed by months of physical training he wishes he had a year ago, take hold.

Fear, adrenaline – anything but the Force – courses through his veins. It keeps him alive.

The rancor’s final whimper drowns out his sigh of relief.

Being dragged out of the depths of the palace, Luke gets his answers; Han and Chewie are pulled from a cell. Luke would throw his arms around them if he could.

He can’t help but notice the slaves scamper out of the way, wide-eyed and trembling, as they pass by. They might be his grandmother or even his father ( _whoever else he is or was – that fact does not change_ ).

He likes the sight of Jabba even less.

At least Han’s desperate call for Leia confirms she’s unmaimed.

Jabba decrees they are to be taken to the Pit of Carkoon. Han breathes sarcastic remarks beside him; Luke’s not in a mood to be amused.

He retorts with more threats.

The serene calm of the Force has eluded him since he returned to Tatooine. He can’t find peace here; he realizes why as they are thrown into a cell to await the morning. This mission was never going to be entirely about Han.

Rage boils too readily under the heat of twin suns and now he finds he cannot speak.

Born or instilled in him, Luke’s always irate where the Hutts are concerned. He allows that hate to wash over him.

\----------

He was lying when he told Han he’d taken care of everything.

But he will.

By the time he’s done Jabba and every last one of his entourage will be dead. It’s not just what they did to his family, what they’ve done to Han and to Leia; it’s what they’ve done to countless others and to his home. The Hutt’s choke hold ends today.

Luke offers Jabba one last chance ( _he doesn’t expect or want the gangster to take it_ ).

He takes a step onto the gangplank and spots R2 across the sarlacc pit. Luke itches to have his lightsaber back in hand, but he takes his time, letting everyone get into place. R2 awaits the signal.

Another step. He nods to Lando. He was only able to mutter one instruction: protect Han.

And another. Leia also waits across the way. Luke can feel her grow tenser with each step; she, like Han, lacks confidence.

They don’t understand his resolve.

At the end of the walkway, Jabba calls for his demise and Luke salutes.

At the signal R2 launches his lightsaber into the air. The rest is one swift movement: he jumps from the gangplank, using it as leverage to flip back onto the skiff, the hilt falls directly into his outstretched hand.

Ignited the lightsaber is justice for the system, for his family.

\----------

Wind whips sand into their faces. The rest try to shield their eyes; Luke lets it sting his.

He should feel something – some remorse for the carnage they left behind. He doesn’t.

He feels relief more than anything. Relief it’s over. Relief the Hutts will never recover from this blow. Relief they made it out unscathed.

Leia hugs herself at the opposite end of the skiff, comforting herself as best she can. No one, not even Han, approaches her.

Luke swallows, eyeing the gold collar. Someone should remove it, sooner than later.

**Author's Note:**

> See author bio for discussion on this 'verse.


End file.
